Kukla's Korner Hockey

Entries with the tag: claude lemieux

While most people were gob-smacked by their success, former Avalanche forward and four-time Stanley Cup champion Claude Lemieux was not. Having played with Roy in Colorado, Lemieux knew that Roy's passionate personality would take the team places no one expected.

“I wasn’t surprised,” Lemieux told ESPN.com in a recent phone conversation. “I know Patrick is a good coach, more than a good coach -- a really good coach. I knew he would have a big impact. He’s so committed to the game, he’s so well-prepared, and he understands winning. He has been a winner for life and that only translates to being contagious to players.”

Lemieux said he actually expected the Avalanche to fare far better in 2013, but knew it was only a matter of time once Roy was hired. The Avalanche lost in the first round of the playoffs to the Wild, but gained valuable postseason experience, which Lemieux hopes will aid them heading into their 2014-15 campaign.

Of all people, it was Jim Peplinski who extended a hand and invited Claude Lemieux to participate in Saturday’s Heritage Classic alumni game at McMahon Stadium.

If you know the history between the two, you’d appreciate the irony.

In the 1986 Stanley Cup final between Peplinski’s Calgary Flames and Lemieux’s Montreal Canadiens, the two forwards got into a lively scrap. At one point, Lemieux was scratching at Peplinski’s eyes like a mad velociraptor. Peplinski put up his hands to defend himself. When one of his fingers got to close to Lemieux’s mouth – CHOMP! Lemieux bit it to the bone.

continued and let’s flashback to the 1986 SCF. The real action begins about the 1:40 in the video below….

Therefore, with apologies again to some of those judged here not to be Hall-deserving, we bring you a determination of worthiness for 10 players. This is not a scientific process; some of the guys technically haven’t retired yet, or haven’t even become eligible for Hall consideration because they haven’t been retired a full three seasons - the usual criteria for induction, unless you’re somebody like Wayne Gretzky or Mario Lemieux and just go right to the head of the line….

Claude Lemieux - Oh boy. This could come down to the final petal on the flower.

He was never a truly great player in the regular season, but Lemieux was great many times in the biggest of hockey games. And it wasn’t just that he scored big goals at times and was fortunate to play on some teams with other truly great teammates. Thing is, Lemieux always seemed to be a presence in games that mattered most.

You just couldn’t ignore him. He was a guy that everybody in the building had something to say about. Yeah, he dove and embellished (Sports Illustrated writer Michael Farber had a memorable line once, that Lemieux played two positions, “right wing and prone”) and he took nights off sometimes in the regular season.

But people forget he did score 379 regular-season goals. Then, you factor in his 80 goals in 279 playoff games, four Stanley Cup rings with three teams and one Conn Smythe, and I have to give him the nod.

...here’s an interview with (Claude) Lemieux for the addictive “Q” interview show, out of Toronto, where Lemieux talks about the show, and also about his NHL career some. And, toward the end, he talks about his hit on Kris Draper, and he uses the word “mistake” in what he did. That’s actually the first time I’ve ever heard him say that word.

Lemieux is a good person. He really is. He would cut your heart out to win a hockey game and was easy to hate, but that ultimately was a sign of respect in a lot of ways.

SAN JOSE – Forward Claude Lemieux today formally announced his retirement from the game of hockey at the age of 44. One of the most successful NHL players in the history of the League, Lemieux won four Stanley Cups and is one of only eight players to win hockey’s greatest prize with three different teams (Montreal, 1986; New Jersey, 1995 and 2000; Colorado, 1996).

“I want to thank my former teammates from my entire career for all of their support,” said Lemieux. “I feel very fortunate that I was able to have a career like I had. There have been many great NHL players who did not get the opportunities to win that I had. I played for a long time but it went by so very fast.”

The return of Lemieux to the NHL, at age 43, certainly has had the hockey world abuzz. Tonight at the Pepsi Center against the Avalanche, he will play his second game for the San Jose Sharks since being called up from the team’s minor-league affiliate in Worcester, Mass., last Monday.

There will be no need to check his water bottle for an elixir from the Fountain of Youth, Lemieux says. Hard work and dedication are responsible for a comeback nearly everybody scoffed at.

“I proved to myself that you never say never,” said Lemieux, who retired from the Dallas Stars in 2003. “For the last few years, I’d wake up every morning saying to myself, ‘I know I could do this. I quit too soon. But I can make it back if I put my mind to it.’ And once I finally decided to really put my mind to it, I had no doubts I’d make it.”...

His weight swelled to 250 pounds. His once-chiseled cheekbones disappeared under the soft flesh that comes from one-too-many slices of pizza.

“I definitely got fat,” Lemieux said with the characteristic bluntness that made him one of the NHL’s most colorful and controversial players.

Before we continue, crow must be eaten. We promised to run through the press box naked at the Stanley Cup finals if Claude Lemieux’s NHL comeback bid came to fruition. Ahem, media colleagues, you’ve been forewarned. Please make sure to have eaten dinner before we make good on our promise next June.

“That’s why we called him up,” Sharks GM Doug Wilson, joking of course, told us Monday.

We weren’t the only ones to make fun of this comeback bid. The laughter was universal around the hockey world. And Lemieux took notice.

“I got into this with my eyes wide open, knowing that most folks out there would think that I was out of my mind to attempt to do something like this,” Lemieux told a bunch of us media folk on a conference call Monday. “But it’s OK. I’ve had no problem taking criticism along the way. It motivated me even more. It’s been a fun road.”

SAN JOSE – San Jose Sharks Executive Vice President and General Manager Doug Wilson announced today that the club has reassigned forwards Brad Staubitz and Tom Cavanagh to the Worcester Sharks, the team’s top development affiliate in the American Hockey League and recalled forward Claude Lemieux.

The team also placed defenseman Brad Lukowich on injured reserve, retroactive to Jan. 6.

Lemieux has played in 23 games with Worcester, posting 11 points (3-8=11), 24 penalty minutes and a +2 rating. He was originally signed by San Jose as a free agent on Dec. 29, 2007.

Wilson said Sunday night that Lemieux — a right wing once regarded as the league’s top agitator and most hated player — will be given a two-way contract Monday that would enable the Sharks to bring him to San Jose from the franchise’s Worcester development team where he has been playing for the past month.

The G.M. emphasized, however, that the evaluation process is far from complete and continued to play down the likelihood of Lemieux winding up in San Jose….

Offering Lemieux a two-way contract also gives every other NHL team a chance to claim him by noon Tuesday under waiver rules. But if none does, the Sharks would be free to bring him up just as they have several rookies this season.

In this exclusive interview with Sportsnet.ca’s Perry Lefko, (Claude) Lemieux talks about the reasons for his comeback, his decision to pick Worcester, playing in the Asian League, and his impressions of infamous super-pest Sean Avery….

SN: You’ve had an outstanding career, particularly in the playoffs, but some people only remember your hit on Kris Draper. If you are successful in making it back to the NHL, how do you think that will impact on the way people view you and your career?

CL: That doesn’t really matter to me. You can never unanimously please everybody. There’s always people that regardless of what you do they’re always going to want to remember the negative; the people that get up every morning and look for something negative, the glass is always half empty, it’s never full. That’s just the way it is….”

After seeing former Devils winger Claude Lemieux this week and talking to those who have watched his comeback attempt with the Worcester Sharks of the AHL, my belief is that he will make it back to the NHL. He is still driven, even at the age of 43.

Lemieux told me he still has the ingredient that made him a four-time Stanley Cup champion.

“I think it’s just the will to succeed at all costs,” he said. “I think it’s character.”

“I’m having a great time,” said Lemieux, once the focal point of Boston fans’ ire, in part the result of some legendary confrontations with Cam Neely at the old Garden. “I think I can be very helpful to any club, based on what I bring to the ice and to the dressing room. That said, I’ve waited a long time to do this, so I’m also looking for a good fit.”...

Suffice to say the Red Wings, who still smart from his ugly hit on Kris Draper years ago, likely won’t dispatch a scout to check out No. 32 in Worcester teal.

“Yeah, he’s 43, but I think that’s all a state of mind,” said Worcester coach Roy Sommer. “If you look at him, he’s got the body of a 27- or 28-year-old, and in the brief time he’s been with us, he’s helped us win [2-1-0 over the weekend].

“I think the question will be, is his mind into it? So far, it sure seems that way.”

In the midst of a longer conversation over his team’s excellent performance in the first quarter of the NHL season, (Doug) Wilson confirmed that Lemieux will report to Worcester to play for the team’s AHL affiliate under coach Wayne Thomas. However, Wilson stressed that the Sharks had made no commitment to Lemieux beyond providing him with a place to play, so that he can determine for himself whether a possible comeback attempt was realistic or not.

Claude Lemieux, who had been working out in Arizona to prepare for an NHL comeback attempt, was somehow convinced to play hockey in Asia with the China Sharks. The move happened quickly and he has already suited up for the Chinese team against Anyang Halla in the Asia League games this past weekend

It remains to be seen how long Lemieux will remain with the Sharks. The China Sharks are owned by the NHL’s San Jose Sharks. San Jose General Manager Doug Wilson, CFO Charlie Faas and CEO Greg Jamison put Lemieux in contact with China Sharks GM Chris Collins, and Lemieux agreed to travel across the Pacific for a trial run with the China Sharks.

“I’ve been talking to a few NHL teams who have a serious interest in me and who I feel really good about playing for,” (Claude) Lemieux told Slap Shots by phone from his training base of Prescott Valley, Ariz. “By my thinking, I’ll be signed to an AHL contract in no later than two weeks by the NHL team that wants me.

“They’ll come to watch me, and if they like what they see, I’ll be back.”

It strains credulity, but Lemieux is nothing if not self-assured. He is certain there is room for legs as old as his in this young man’s league. He is certain there is a need for his experience and eagerness to play in the dirty areas of the ice.

Well-travelled former Montreal Canadiens forward Claude Lemieux appears to have found the fountain of youth – apparently it’s somewhere near Phoenix.

Lemieux has told the RDS sports network that he wants to make an NHL comeback at age 43, and that his inspiration is the impending un-retirement of cycling legend Lance Armstrong….

And while he insists money is no concern, Lemieux carefully choreographed his announcement, earning maximum exposure through his insistence that the RDS interview be conducted by former Habs coach Jacques Demers or former teammate Benoit Brunet (both are analysts for the network.)